A Children's Treasury of Renderings of RTC's Westward Expansion

Now that the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors has given final approval to plans to remake the stodgy old Reston Executive Center on Sunset Hills Road into an exciting mixed use retail extravaganza known as RTC West, we can anticipate Reston's gritty urban core extending, tentaclelike, to within footsteps of the future Metro station. And what better time to break into the 173-page staff report to get a look at our exciting future. Here we go!


Here's the current site, surrounded by surface parking and Chipolte's (sadly, Targetville is not labeled). Bo-ring!


Here's the new mixed-use hawtness, which will be created by adding new retail space to the bottoms of both buildings. It's part of a broader strategy by RTC West owner JBG to rehab its older Reston properties to cash in on the sweeeeeet Metro bounty. We just can't wait to shop at Mesmery, Plain Note, and Endless Wok.


Here a busy executive and her estranged slacker sister sit on uncomfortable wooden furniture, awaiting their separate reservations at Endless Wok.


A future consumer, being indoctrinated introduced to the fun of strolling in the sorts of privately administered, mixed-use "third places" that, by the time he/she is grown, will have replaced virtually all public gathering spots -- which is fine, until you feel the need to protest or maybe take a photo. But hey -- trendy midscale retail!


Will there be awesome signage? Yes, yes there will.


We pity the fool that uses Garamond, not Gothic Black for the signage.


New construction = dramatic sunsets. We can't wait to shop at Nano, a store that only sells discontinued products from the Apple store around the corner, and Shoe Carnival, which sells... shoes for clowns? We dunno.


EDGY. Corey Hart would approve.


And finally, after poring through dozens of these staff reports, some DRB-pleasing paver palettes (say that three times fast) we can all get behind, the end.